


fun facts

by thericeraven



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: BokuAka Week 2020, Canon Compliant, First Dates, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, bird park, figuring out a new relationship together, gratuitous use of bird fun facts, of course they have their first date at a bird park cmon, they're sowlmates your honor, very introspective and artistic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:08:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25671076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thericeraven/pseuds/thericeraven
Summary: He could feel Koutarou vibrating with excitement beneath him. He had always been quite the fan of birds. Keiji had always found that fact quite endearing, a little parcel of information that he could tuck between his heartstrings with the others, something to unearth at night and think about when he missed Koutarou. His boyfriend’s love for birds was hardly a secret, no, but that didn’t change the way that he felt about it.They were going to see birds together.An introspective glimpse into the nature of Keiji and Koutarou's first date at the bird park, as told by Keiji's beating heart and Koutarou's golden eyes and the order of ornithology.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou
Comments: 3
Kudos: 21
Collections: Bokuaka Week 2020





	fun facts

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to explore the dynamics of their relationship once it blossomed into one of love, so I decided to use bird facts, and lots of bird imagery and a ton of symbolism.

The bus ride to the bird park was quiet and easy.

The sun drank softly into their skin as they lay in each other’s arms. Koutarou leaned into the touch, kneading unspoken promises into the back of Keiji’s neck where smooth skin met black hair, an arm wrapped around his newly-acclaimed boyfriend as if he might just vanish if he let go. Keiji hummed pleasantly, sinking into the gentle warmth, letting himself be held onto by a strong arm, joy folded neatly into the little crevasse where his heart sat beating in his chest. 

He could feel Koutarou vibrating with excitement beneath him. He had always been quite the fan of birds. Keiji had always found that fact quite endearing, a little parcel of information that he could tuck between his heartstrings with the others, something to unearth at night and think about when he missed Koutarou. His boyfriend’s love for birds was hardly a secret, no, but that didn’t change the way that he felt about it. 

They were going to see birds together.

Just two boys — young and free — untethered by the weight of the world past their youth, unbothered by the curious glances cast their way, the world running past them outside the rattling windows. It was a love that was so pure and unbridled in its early stages, a blossom of hope that was only just beginning.

Their love story was just beginning.

Keiji had been wondering how long it was before he could muster up the bare courage to face his feelings head-on. He had been so caught up in the webs of his own hesitation that he hadn’t seen it coming when Koutarou turned to him one day after practice, the yearning clear in his eyes. He had beat Keiji to it, but of course Keiji had said _yes_ when he finally asked him out. How could he not? How could he wait one more second after years of ignoring his true heart’s desire?

And as he chanced a glance out the window, he let his errant heart keep beating. 

Yes, he thought. _Yes_. 

He would let himself be swept up into a love story today.

**_at the ticketing booth, 12p.m._ **

“Tickets for two, please.”

 _For two_ , Keiji mused, turning the words over and over in his head. _They were two now, that’s right_. 

They were two lovebirds.

Two souls bound.

Two, together. 

In the background, the call of the birds punctuated the hot air with growing intensity. There was squawking, keening, shrieking, cooing, hollering; there were all sorts of birds making sounds of all manner and shape, but Keiji didn’t mind the noise at all. In fact, he thought it quite familiar and welcoming.

“Do you want a snack before we go in?” 

“Whatever you’re getting,” Keiji replied, flashing Koutarou an encouraging smile.

He knew how snacky his boyfriend got around noon. Koutarou was always the one vying for free food, much like a hungry scavenger bird picking up scraps of meat after training — wanting more, more, and more. That’s why Keiji always kept a bag of seaweed strips in his bag’s left pocket for this exact occasion every day. To calm the vultures flying overhead in his heart, swooping after the remnants of his own reservations. 

Koutarou bounced over to the snack cart, eyes set intently on the bucket of caramel popcorn.

Keiji did like popcorn, after all.

**_At the parrot stands, 12.10p.m._ **

Keiji didn’t really fancy being the center of photos, but he would indulge his boyfriend anytime.

They were standing in front of a rack of wooden perches, each one lined with parrots more colorful than the last. A cheery guide in the park’s yellow and red uniform was introducing their line-up — the hyacinth macaws, the green-cheeked amazons, the blue-eyed cockatoos, the hooded parrots, and the crested cockatiels. It reminded Keiji of a theatre cast on roll call, the curtain finally going up in a crescendo of eager squawks and screeches. 

“C’mon!” Koutarou whipped out his phone and turned on the front camera. “Let’s get a photo together.”

“Are you going to post that, Koutarou?” Keiji asked, more curious than wary.

“Only if it’s okay with you,” Koutarou replied, smile wider than the sun.

Keiji mulled over it. 

He had always shied away from social media posts, especially posting photos of important moments that should’ve been captured in the mind. Posting photos were usually for appearance’s sake, a little facade of pride and joy that everyone found euphoria in; it was a silly little game of reputation, a fickle conformity to the norm, a one-dimensional perspective through a screen — nothing more and nothing less. 

Keiji found himself proven wrong when he met Koutarou.

Koutarou posted photos of anything and everything. Keiji had thought it particularly confusing until he learnt that it was his boyfriend’s way of remembering and appreciating the things around him. Koutarou was always snapping pictures of things that were seemingly trivial and unimportant, but every photograph he posted and kept on his profile was a genuine letter to the heartfelt moments shared with life’s finest; moments that he wanted to share with everyone else. It wasn’t a matter of fame or glory or showing off; it was real, it was authentic, it was silly and unfiltered.

It was so very Koutarou.

“Sure,” he said. “Let’s do it.”

He found it a much more pleasant experience than he last remembered. Even the birds in the background posed for the photo, wings raised and beaks open. Koutarou was smiling his widest grin, one hand slung around Keiji’s shoulder, and Keiji’s own little smile paled in comparison to the light his boyfriend exuded, but he thought he didn’t look too bad in the photo. He quite liked the photo.

When was the last time he had taken a photo with someone else? It didn’t really matter anyway. 

Later he would stare at it when he was alone in his bed at home, through a neatly-cropped post with the caption “we’re sowlmates <3” on a glaring screen in the dark. He would scroll through the comments and skim through hearts and well wishes and words of congratulations from teammates and rivals and friends and acquaintances. Everybody would see that post.

And Keiji decided it was well worth the shot.

**_at the breeding & research centre, 12.30p.m._ **

It had taken them a little walking, but they finally found the breeding and research centre. The map had taken them there, and the place was empty and brightly-lit, the entrance nestled between a cluster of trees. There was not a soul walking down the small path leading up to the little building, and for a moment Keiji worried if they had gotten the directions wrong, but Koutarou pushed ahead with vigor and determination.

“Baby birds!” he whispered loudly, as if afraid to disturb the peace of the place. 

Keiji followed him over to a display case lined with specimens of bird eggs. There were eggs all the way from hummingbird to ostrich, eggs with speckles, eggs with spots, big eggs and small eggs, white eggs and blue eggs; he didn’t even know where to begin looking. The eggs were arranged from smallest to largest, a perfect spectrum of diversity. He wondered if they were once sitting in a nest somewhere, waiting for their chance at a new life.

“Ostrich eggs can weigh up to 1.3 kilograms!” Koutarou exclaimed, impressed. “That’s heavier than a volleyball.”

Keiji stared at the huge ostrich egg. He reckoned he couldn’t even hold it in his hands if he tried.

“A hummingbird egg is smaller than a jellybean,” Koutarou marvelled. “That’s really small.”

“Mm,” Keiji replied. 

“Which egg do you think tastes the best?” Koutarou lowered his voice to a joking whisper.

Keiji chuckled a little.

There was nobody around, but he still felt it a little strange to be holding Koutarou’s hand as his boyfriend led him around. That was something he had to get used to. He did like how warm Koutarou was, his hands slightly rough and weathered from training. His palms were sturdier and wide than Keiji’s own, and their hands slotted together comfortably.

They migrated over to the glass walls, huge panes built into the walls to afford a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes operations of the park. 

The first one they chose peeked into the incubation room. Abandoned eggs or the eggs of rare birds were brought here to improve their chances of hatching. The lights were dimmed, and control panels fixed into the machines to indicate temperature and humidity, the eggs safely contained inside and warmed evenly. There was nobody inside the incubation room; it was quiet and dark and comfortable, as if someone had left them there to be rediscovered like treasure at a later date.

The sign explained that it was to simulate natural conditions, and Keiji found it a little heartwarming to know that these eggs could eventually grow into fully-fledged birds with warmth and care. 

The second wall showed the nursery, where hatchlings peeped and shuffled around in something they called brooders. Someone (whom the sign called a “bird nanny”) was feeding the birds with carefully measured amounts of food. The hatchlings could barely move or open their eyes, but they lapped it up hungrily.

“Sound-proof and warm.” Koutarou grinned. “That’s cool.”

Keiji nodded, gripping Koutarou’s hand tighter.

There was more life here. The eggs had grown and hatched. 

The rest of the windows peered into rooms with wall-length holding cages filled with wooden perches and colorful toys and food bowls. The birds here were fledglings who have grown their wings or found their balance on their wobbly two feet, parked here on their own with time away from the familiarity of their parents or siblings to try and figure out their new abilities. There was a black cockatoo staring at Keiji, its crest bobbing up and down as it moved its wings.

These birds were learning on their own.

They weren’t the only ones.

Koutarou pressed his face up to the glass, trying to communicate telepathically with one very colorful-looking parakeet who seemed equally curious. He was pulling Keiji along with him, mumbling words of adoration for how cute these birds were, and one or two of how cute Keiji was. He read out every little fun fact from the signs pasted on the walls, making sure that Keiji saw all the interesting birds too.

Keiji felt a warmth creeping up his cheeks.

After a while, two of them emerged back into the sun, hands in each other’s.

Their journey was just beginning.

**_at the waterfall aviary, 1.20p.m._ **

The waterfall burbled over their voices as they approached the waterfall aviary.

It was a man-made one so it wasn’t very tall, but it was to be expected. The falling water was surrounded with lush greenery and an assortment of birds staring down at them from between the plants. Every other visitor gathered round, ooh-ing and ah-ing at the brilliant sight. 

Keiji thought it was a beautiful waterfall, but it wasn’t particularly impressive.

Their arms brushed against each other’s with every step they took together, and Keiji relished the warmth of his own hand in Koutarou’s. It was easy the way he had fallen for him. The way their relationship had started out and the way it was headed was a natural course of life — a river of emotion on a soft spring morning. He hadn’t realized it early enough, having only let himself love when he tumbled over the edge, falling into the warm embrace of Koutarou’s welcoming arms.

A couple of guineafowl trotted nonchalantly across the little bridge, sparing them a little look before disappearing into the underbrush. 

“Did you see those birds?” Koutarou gasped. “They were dotty!”

Keiji let out an amused chuckle.

The starlings echoed overhead, some strutting confidently down the visitor’s path or perched on wooden railings with curious eyes. They were vividly colored, their plumage shiny and vibrant, like little toys on display in an exhibit. 

“They can mimic human sounds,” Keiji read from a small sign. “And they’re very colorful.”

“They’re so bold and unafraid!” Koutarou exclaimed, veering closer to a starling that didn’t even bat a glance at him. 

_You’re so bold and unafraid_ , Keiji thought. 

Koutarou was always the braver one between them. They were opposites in that way. 

Koutarou had so much hesitation and fear and reservations but he never shied away from them, never quite bothered to hide them. He wore his heart on his sleeve, and he said it out loud whenever he felt afraid or worried, but it only gave him that much more courage to face it. 

Keiji on the other hand, did not let his apprehension show on his face. He was always the placid, uncaring picture, a stone-faced setter who didn’t let anything get to him. But deep down he had fears, he had hopes and dreams that could be broken, he was anxious and worried.

They could stand to learn more from each other, and they had a lot of time to do that.

The steady rush of the waterfall rang out as they walked deeper through the aviary.

**_at the lory loft, 2.00p.m._ **

“I’m doing it, I’m really doing it!”

Koutarou tried to steady his arm as he kept a firm grip on the plastic cup. The bright red and black lorikeet didn’t spare him a glance as it hopped clean onto his hand, the new weight sending him stumbling back a few steps as it lapped up the honey and water mix. It was strange feeling the claws dig into his wrist, but he was not about to be fazed by the sensation. 

Keiji smiled as he watched his boyfriend wobble about, eyes wide as he watched the bird feed from his cup. He was standing off to the side where two smaller green lorikeets stood on the railing, slowly drinking from his cup. These ones were quieter, their calls less shrill. They were smaller too, but their eyes shone with life as they stuck their blue heads into the cup. 

They had paid for the lory mix at the counter, $2 per cup. It was a small price to pay for the rare experience of getting up close and personal with the lorikeets. The experience was quite a unique one, and nothing like either of them have ever had before. 

This had been one of the moments that Koutarou had been looking forward to the moment they had proposed a visit to the bird park. Feeding the lories. They were so loud and boisterous and hungry and excited that it had taken Keiji off guard for a second, but he was content to indulge these birds with what he had. They were all jostling and chirping, as if asking him for more, and soon a whole flock of birds had descended onto the railing, all advancing towards the both of them at once.

It was a little intimidating at first, but they eventually got used to moving their cups about so every lorikeet was satisfied. 

“Hey, hey, doesn’t that one remind you of Komi?” Bokuto pointed to a lorikeet with a ruffled head of feathers. 

“And that one looks like Konoha-san,” Akaashi pointed out, gesturing to a taller and thinner lorikeet. 

When the team had heard they were finally going out on a date, they had shoved and pushed and ran up to their ace and their setter to ask for all the juicy details. It was a whole spectacle, the entire gym flooding over to find out more about their relationship. It wasn’t an unexpected reveal, and Keiji could’ve sworn he saw the other third years let out a sigh of relief when he told them that he was dating Koutarou. They were quite supportive, voicing out affirmations and congratulating the new couple every chance they got. 

He was quite relieved that the team had taken it so well. 

“It says here that their tongues function like a paintbrush,” Koutarou read out from the row of signs. “They soak up nectar and mop up pollen efficiently.”

“That explains why they eat so fast,” Keiji chuckled. The food in his cup was quickly decreasing, and they had barely even started feeding the birds.

Once they were done feeding the lories, they stood there for a while watching the birds splash around in special water dishes situated around the loft. The whole place was enclosed with a thin net, but it was huge and covered with netted walkways and little shelters; they were standing very high up, a little stream and a lot of bushes on the ground below. 

“Hey, Keiji?”

“Hm?”

“Thank you for feeding the birds with me.”

**_< lunch break>_ **

**_at the ornithology museum, 4.00p.m._ **

The museum was cold and every sound echoed off the walls. 

“Woah.” Koutarou took a tentative step inside, his eyes alight with wonder. “This place is amazing.”

There was nobody else inside but the wall-to-wall displays of ornithology artifacts — bird skeletons, feathers, eggs, nests; all the natural history of hundreds of bird species preserved right here in this very room. Everything laid out for the two of them to slowly peruse, covered in a slight layer of dust; it felt like they were returning to the heart of where everything started when they stepped through those glass doors.

“Birds have hollow bones for their size so they can fly,” Keiji read out. “They have hollow limb bones too, strengthened by struts such that they’re stronger than mammal bones but are still light enough.”

Perfectly reconstructed, a row of bird skeletons hung from the ceiling of the exhibit, suspended in flight. There was a strange feeling inside his chest looking at the hollowed-out eye sockets and the dissected wing bones presented in front of him. There was no life in these birds, the _skeletons_ of these birds, as if someone had tucked them away for all to see, enclosed behind glass and hidden from the world outside. The warm and dim lights cast long shadows over the curve of a seagull’s spine and hollowed out the empty ribcage of a canary.

Koutarou was uncharacteristically quiet, his head running with thoughts as he looked at the bones.

Contrary to popular belief, Koutarou can be very quiet at times. He was quiet when he was thinking, he was quiet when he was tired, and he was quiet when he was sad. There were many times he could think of being sad, but none of them were quite so memorable as the times when he felt the rising sting of a future without Keiji in it. A future if he confessed and things didn’t work out like they did now. It was a sad future, and one that he had thought about often in the past when he wasn’t so sure what would become of them.

As if sensing this sudden poignant mood taking over, Keiji squeezed Koutarou’s hand in his.

 _I’m still here, Koutarou_.

They walked to the next exhibit together, leaving the skeletons behind. 

“Hey Keiji, if you were a bird, what kind of feathers would you have?” Koutarou asked.

Keiji stared at the range of feathers laid out on display for him to draw inspiration from.

“Maybe something brown,” he said. It was a plain answer, but there were plenty of interesting birds with brown feathers. Anything from the little common sparrow to a large hawk, they all boasted brown feathers. It was a versatile color, one made to adapt to the outdoors and more.

“What about patterns?”

“Hmm,” Keiji wondered. There were mottled feathers, spotted feathers, dotted feathers, all sorts of patterns. How could he choose from so many?

If Keiji had to choose a part of a bird that he found the most interesting, it was the feathers. They served a range of purposes, from helping a bird fly to keeping them warm and dry to showing off to a mate. Some feathers were more for show, decorative purposes, and others were for more practical purposes. It was a curious science — a bird’s plumage.

When he had first met Koutarou, he had been dazzled, his breath stolen away by a radiant star. And when he had approached Keiji and offered to show him around, Keiji was sure it was just a one-time thing. Koutarou had been pretty loud and outgoing after all, it would make sense for him to have other friends, other people he would rather spend time with. He was the ace after all, and Keiji was but a small first-year setter.

He had never been so happy to be wrong.

“That one is so fluffy,” Koutarou breathed, leaning in closer to look at the fluffy down feathers of a swan chick. “Just like you.”

“Me?” 

“You’re so soft,” Koutarou laughed, burying his face into the nook of Keiji’s shoulder.

“You’re the soft one.” Keiji shook his head, but he made no move to shake Koutarou off.

“Look, they have eggs and nests,” Koutarou whispered. A shout would have disrupted the quiet atmosphere inside the museum. 

There were nests of all kinds — cup-shaped nests that could rest in one’s hands, large messy nests that ate up entire tree branches, funnel-shaped nests that hung from the inside of a roof, ground and mound nests built into holes; it was a whole plethora of comfortable possibility. These were homes to birds once, home to parent birds and their eggs and their hatchlings, home to a new life.

“Can you imagine living on a tree branch?” Koutarou laughed.

“Would be very comfortable if I didn’t fall off,” Keiji replied, smiling.

“Look, these birds build their nests out of shiny things,” Koutarou said, pointing to a picture of a magpie. Their nests were famous for being adorned with shiny objects that catch their eye, the round nests decorated with all sorts of things that glittered, shimmered, and shone. 

“Kind of like you,” Keiji remarked. “Always hoarding _interesting_ things.”

“Hey!” Koutarou pretended to be hurt. 

It was true. He was always collecting random objects, picking up smooth stones off the side of the road or tacking train tickets with interesting names up on the walls of his room for no reason at all. Once he had run out of clean wall space to put any more things up, so he started using his closet doors instead. It was like hoarding memories and putting them up for display, little tidbits of life that would always be a reminder of the everyday.

Keiji supposed he could understand it. He quite enjoyed the idea of being able to be reminded of all the small memories through the little things. It was like a museum of the heart, and Koutarou was the curator. Every single time he walked into his boyfriend’s room, he felt like a visitor to the past, all the memories laid bare for him to see on the walls. It was endearing in the strangest way.

They had come so far.

**_at the birds of prey show, 4.50p.m._ **

They filed into two front-row seats for the show.

The air thrummed with suspense as everyone stared anticipatorily at the stage, a beautiful lush grass setting with a tree stump pedestal, a piece of fallen log, and cow bones. The other rows of seats were filling up quickly; this seemed to be a very popular attraction.

“Do you think those are real?” Koutarou wondered aloud.

“Maybe,” Keiji replied.

The music swelled to a thrilling beat, and a voice drifted in from the speakers announcing the commencement of the show. Shoving his hand into Koutarou’s, Keiji prepared himself for what was to come. He was quite aware of the occasional stare thrown their way from the other park goers, but he was pushing them away to the back of his mind.

“ **_And here we have the scavenging vultures to start the show_ **!”

The crowd gasped audibly when the flock of vultures descended upon the cow bones, using their beaks and talons to tear at the chunks of meat the presenter had tossed into the midst. It was messy and vicious but efficient, and Keiji found himself marvelling at how quickly they could have torn the carcass apart.

Scavengers. Ravenous scavenging vultures. 

Koutarou leaned in closer, as if to protect Keiji from the macabre but entrancing sight. 

Keiji smiled to himself. He was hardly in need of protecting, but he would indulge this gesture.

A brahminy kite soared into the scene, landing perfectly on the falconer's arm.

The crowd cheered and whooped.

Koutarou had always been the protective one. 

Keiji had thought it impossible for his cheery boyfriend to even look mad, but that all changed when he saw the thunderous glare in those golden eyes the first time they held hands. It proved effective in deflecting all the stares that were more than curious, all the whispers and the ugly looks their way. It looked out of place on Koutarou’s usually soft or elated face, but Keiji had grown to love this protective side of him.

Birds of prey.

Keiji had always found them majestic. 

“ **_Who would like to volunteer to hold this Harris’ hawk_ **?”

“You have to go up, Keiji!” Koutarou urged. “This is a one in a lifetime opportunity.”

 _Indeed it is_. 

Keiji stood up, raising his hand, much to his boyfriend’s excitement.

He would be the brave one this time. 

**_at the owl house, 6.00p.m._ **

The owl house was their last destination on the map.

It was darker than Keiji would’ve liked, but he was perfectly fine with navigating the place holding hands with Koutarou. It was quieter and colder than the rest of the attractions the bird park had to offer, and he found himself leaning towards Koutarou more. 

Naturally, Koutarou gravitated to the great horned owl exhibit.

With its long, earlike tufts and intimidating yellow-eyed stare, it was easy to get engulfed by the presence of such a majestic creature. It stood perched and stoic on a wooden branch, its eyes boring straight through Akaashi’s soul, digging up every question that had been lurking at the bottom of his mind.

Keiji read the sign tacked onto the side of the glass. It’s one of the most common owls in North America, equally at home in deserts, wetlands, forests, grasslands, backyards, cities, and almost any other semi-open habitat between the Arctic and the tropics. A powerful predator that could easily catch prey in its talons and soar with its strong wings. 

_At home anywhere_ , Keiji thought.

Koutarou was always the one who felt like he could conquer the world. He had plans to travel the world one day, because he wanted to see it all for himself. He wanted to climb mountains and swim rivers, wanted to talk to new people and eat new food and live somewhere foreign. It was a passion like no other, unrivalled in its beautiful intensity and absolute wonder about the world.

Keiji wondered if he would one day be left behind sometimes because he was too slow. What if he couldn’t keep up one day? What if he lost sight of the majestic sight of a lover he had one day? What if he couldn’t change in time? It was a concern that had plagued him since the start, one that had kept him back. It was something that had shrouded his world in the same darkness, unable to find the light until he found his star. 

“Let’s go see more owls,” Koutarou said softly, tugging on his sleeve. “We have many more to see.”

His golden eyes were beautiful even in the dark.

Keiji exhaled, letting the worries clouding his mind leave.

Nodding, he took Koutarou’s hand and together they ventured deeper into the dark.

_That’s right, they had so much more to see._

**Author's Note:**

> here are my [socials](https://thericeraven.carrd.co)


End file.
